No way to run a country

The world this week

Leaders

A walker with the US President's seal attached to the front

American politics

Why Biden must withdraw

The president and his party portray themselves as the saviours of democracy. Their actions say otherwise

Keir Starmer painting the 10 Downing Street door red

Keir not

Labour has won the British election. Now it has to seize the moment

A volatile electorate and a strong showing for Reform UK are no reason for caution

Smoke rises from the region after an airstrike by the Israeli army on the town of Khiam, Lebanon on June 25th 2024

The northern front

Hizbullah poses a grave threat to Israel

But a war right now would be disastrous

An Amazon box wrapped with a gold bow

Everything in store

As Amazon turns 30, three factors will define its next decade

It will have to deal with trustbusters, catch up on AI and revive its core business

A banker wearing boxing gloves stands in a victory pose, with his foot resting on a small peak on a trend arrow.Unbeknownst to him, the arrow is starting to rise upwards again behind him.

The end of the beginning

Central banks are winning the battle against inflation. But the war is just getting started

Politics and protectionism will make life difficult

Illustration of a red digital room with eyes looking at a man in the centre. The man is wearing a trench coat, trilby hat and briefcase and is looking back at the eyes.

Cloud and dagger

How spies should use technology

Digital tools are transforming spycraft, but won’t replace human agents

A knife cutting a NATO cake with a seventy-five candle on it

NATO at 75

How to Trump-proof America’s alliances

An essential step will be to let Ukraine into NATO

Letters

On solar power, the New York Times bestseller list, Metallica, football, presidential debates

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Briefing

Demonstrators hold signs outside of a fundraiser for US President Joe Biden

Demotivational speaking

Democratic bigwigs are starting to call for Joe Biden to step aside

A sitting congressman has broken ranks

Erich Honecker and Leonid Brehnev in 1979

President Lear

Senility in high office

Even leaders who are spry for their age eventually lose their grip

Photomontage of Biden and Trump, Trump looks angry and Biden looks confused

Gerontocrats ascendant

One generation has dominated American politics for over 30 years

How have they become so entrenched?

A new podcast

Introducing “Boom!”

A six-part series about the generation that blew up American politics

The Economist reads

Economic & financial indicators